"Belgium: "Apple market slowing due to holidays"

D&G Fruit are almost the only ones in Belgium who still have pears in the assortment. "I expect we will have them till the middle of August," David Bamps says. "The prices are good, but do not increase anymore. We work with fixed prices of around 1.00 to 1.20 for pears, depending on quality and packing." The most important buyers of pears are supermarkets in England, Scandinavia, France and locally. "At the moment nothing goes to Russia. With those high prices no work can be done there."

According to David the apple market is doing OK, "It is a bit less than pears. At the moment we mainly supply Poland, but we notice that the demand is decreasing. Also the market looks like closing a little because of the holiday period. As soon as the schools start again I expect demand to increase again as well. The prices of apples are around

50 cents at the moment (in box pallet, unpacked) and this is normal for the end of the season. The quality of apples and pears in storage is still good."

"It will still take a while before we will have the new harvest. Last year there was of course a top harvest, but this will be a lot less in Belgium in the new season. For pears this will be approximately 70% of the volume of last year and for apples 50 to 60%."

For more information:
David Bamps
D&G Fruit
1113 Schurhovenveld
3800 Sint-Truiden, Belgium
Tel./Fax: +32 11 69 65 83
www.dengfruit.be